Monday, April 27, 2009

Cocktail Slippers "St.Valentine's Day Massacre" In Stores 4/28

Straight out of their rousing sets at SXSW, The Cocktail Slippers release their second effort on Wicked Cool Records, but it's anything but sophomoric. Admittedly, there's no shortage of great garage acts from Scandinavia, but St. Valentine's Day Massacre hits a few different chords. "Sentenced to Love" is a tight song with cool keys and a strong beat, but there's something more with the girl group harmonies and the the vocal stretches of "aye yaye yayes" more well known of male vocalists make it a lot of fun. "You Do Run" has a catchy chorus that you can't help thinking of "Da Doo Run Run", but that was probably intentional. It's a straighter song, but again oh, those great harmonies and impressively tight rock beat. The title track "St. Valentine's Day Massacre' sounds better the second time around within the larger context of a full length album and has a groovy organ throughout. The rock guard comes down on songs like "Don't Ever Leave Me" and "I Got A Crush On You, both sweet, full on '60s girl group homages with all the vulnerability of an original, but definitely cooler with some melodic guitars and vintage organ.

"Anything You Want" is probably the best description of The Cocktail Slippers overall sound: A tight, garage rock band with an affinity of 60's girl group pop. Although one could say that combining both is a standard for modern garage rock, other bands have not really embraced the girl group ethos like they do. Instead, other acts that are all or mostly female play rock 'n' roll or garage rock with a female lead or take a more assertive, rock 'n' roll approach. Therefore, The Cocktail Slippers take is pretty refreshing. A standout on the album is "Round and Round" with a mixture of Pat Benatar's energy from some of her earlier work mixed with, you guessed, vocal harmonies.

Although there are countless excellent all female rock and garage acts out there that might rock harder or have deeper soul roots, The Cocktail Slippers might have a leg up in breaking into the mainstream with their girl group derived songs. However, they still rock. Every song on St. Valentine's Day Massacre is proof of that. The songs not only rock, but they're really good. The mix of simpler pop songs with a stronger beat and a really tight sound are pretty unique. Although many are going to fall either more towards the rock side while others might lean towards the pop song side, a lot of people will be happier in the overall cohesiveness of having both. Even the simplicity of the final track "Heard You Got A Thing For Me" with it's simple vocal pop and "Leader Of The Pack" sensibility cuts into a deeper, less pop oriented keyboard solo that's more '60s rock.